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AIR RCEF August 24, 2017 History 11 Above: A painting by Kim Young (1989), a former RAAF illustrator in Flying Safety, depicts the Japanese attack on Catalina A24-9. Right: Gunner CPL Thomas Keen. Supplied by: Robert Piper Escape under deadly fire WGDCRs Mary Anne Whiting and Greg Williams recount the story of CPL Thomas Keen, who narrowly escaped from his doomed Catalina O n Wednesday, January 21 1942, CPL Thomas Keen, was the Starboard Waist Gunner on No. 11 Squadron Catalina A24-9. The pilot was LEUT George L. Hutchinson, of the United States Navy, attached to 11 and 20 Squadrons from the US Legation in Canberra. The other crew members were co-pilot, PLTOFF Thomas Row; Engineer, AC 1C Kenneth Murphy; Radio Operator, LAC Arthur Meadow; Assistant Radio Operator, LAC Allan Downes; Gunner, SGT Doug Coote; Port Waist Gunner, LAC Bruce Craigie; and Rear Gunner, CPL Jack Wyche. The Catalina took off from Fairfax Harbour, Port Moresby at 0735 hours on a reconnaissance mission to Salamaua. The Catalina was about 100km past Lae, cruising at 1000ft, when 12 Japanese fighters were sighted flying in the opposite direction and parallel to the Catalina. In an effort to evade the fighters, LEUT Hutchinson pushed the Catalina into clouds at 7000ft. The fighters passed and then flew down astern in formation towards the Catalina. PLTOFF Rowe left his station and stood in the blister to act as control for the gunners. The first attack involved four fighters fanning out with one higher than the others. While the fighters were still some distance away, CPL Keen saw white smoke come from the front of one of them and the blister glass in front of him shattered into pieces. As the fighter was out of range, CPL Keen held his fire. Another white flash was followed by a crash on the hull of the Catalina. CPL Keen fired and at the same time a row of holes appeared alongside him, so he gave a long burst with his machine gun and the fighter went into a dive. He heard PLTOFF Rowe say: “You’ve got him!” While CPL Keen was watch- ing the fighter dive away, LAC Craigie fired off a few shots. Suddenly, the cabin filled with smoke as the aircraft was being attacked again and LAC Craigie was mortally wounded. CPL Keen described how the fighters then attacked from all directions, and the aircraft fabric was suddenly ablaze. He then heard LEUT Hutchinson through the intercom shout: “I’m going to jettison bombs!” The intercom then went dead, and the bombs remained hanging under the wings unjettisoned. CPL Keen was unable to fire his machine gun as the twin sights were shot away. The Catalina then started to lose height. With the cabin full of smoke, and with the risk the bombs might explode, CPL Keen put on his parachute harness and jumped from the burning aircraft. However, the slip stream had torn his harness and the whole pack was above his head. CPL Keen then climbed up the webbing straps until he could reach the parachute pack and held it in front of him with one hand and pulled the D-ring (rip cord) with the other. As he looked up he could see a fighter was diving on him and heard some slugs go past his legs; he played dead and the fighter pulled away. He then heard the Catalina crash and explode; and as he came down he became tangled in trees. CPL Keen released the harness and fell to the ground. As he could still hear fighters circling overhead, he hid in the jungle. He reasoned that the coast would be on the opposite site of the mountains, so he crept along pig paths until he came to a road on the coast. He eventually came across a group of Papuans who took him in relays from village to village to the Hopoi mission settlement. The missionaries assisted CPL Keen to get back to Lae where he eventually re-joined his squadron. The Catalina with the remain- ing crew aboard crashed near Yambo becoming the first reconnaissance aircraft shot down in Papua New Guinea. LEUT Hutchinson became the first American killed in action in the PNG theatre. In 2002, an Air Force team visited the site and met with descendants of the villagers from Yambo who helped CPL Keen get back to Lae. FLTLT Greg Williams (now WGCDR Williams, DeputyDirector Aircraft Wrecks and MIA Investigation, History and Heritage Branch – Air Force) spoke to an elderly man from the village who recalled the day CPL Keen walked into the village. The man recalled that CPL Keen was bloodied and in obvious shock. The wreck of the aircraft remains buried in the thick jungle in the hills above Yambo, and lies as a permanent memorial to the service and sacrifice of the crew of Catalina A24-9. Top: WGCDR John Holloway, FLTLT (now WGCDR) Greg Williams and a Yambo village local next to the Catalina’s tail, with rear lower gun hatch visible. Above: Ordnance found at the site awaiting disposal by the EOD team in 2002.